Beef Stew with Red Wine

After making Beef Cooked in Red Wine, we had quite a bit of stewing meat and most of a bag of potatoes left over.  What to make?  What to make?  How about Beef Stew with Red Wine?  I found this post on Two Novice Chefs, One Tiny Kitchen.  Since they talked about modifying the recipe, I decided to go to the source and change it up to our tastes.

We added more of just about everything and skipped the onions (since we didn't have any in the house).  Mr. Gooch loved it (though he wished it had onions in it).  Guess I will have to add them next time.  Even I, not a huge fan of stews liked this one.  I think it is because there were no mushrooms and no beans. 

Next time, I plan to double the batch to ensure we have enough to freeze for a quick and easy meal when pressed for time. 

Beef Stew with Red Wine
(Sourced from About.com: Southern Food)
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds stew beef

3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Smokey 4/S Seasoned Salt
2 tablespoons olive oil or canola oil
2 cups carrot chopped to bite size pieces
3 ribs celery, chopped to bite size pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups beef broth
2 cup dry red wine, such as Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon
2 cups potatoes, chopped to bite size pieces
1/4 teaspoon crumbled dried rosemary

Directions
Trim stew beef and cut in small bite-size pieces.

Put in a zip top plastic bag with the flour, onion powder and seasoned salt.
Toss to coat well.
Heat oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat.
Add beef to hot oil and cook, stirring, until lightly browned.
Add the celery; continue cooking, stirring, for about 3 minutes.
Add carrots, potatoes, garlic, broth, wine, and rosemary, bringing to a boil.
After reducing heat to low, cover and simmer for 50 to 60 minutes, or until beef is tender.

Turkey Noodle Soup and Stock

Since we had a 13 pound turkey and only 4 people at dinner, it goes without saying that we had lots of leftovers. We have already started eating our way through them at quite a rapid pace. I suppose it helps that we both love turkey.

This afternoon, we had turkey noodle soup for lunch. Using the turkey stock I made yesterday, this was a tasty way to use up more of our leftovers.

There was enough made to bag up and freeze for future consumption.

Turkey Noodle Soup
Ingredients
Turkey stock (recipe below)
Carrots reserved from making stock
Pasta (I used bow tie pasta)
Turkey reserved from making stock

Directions
Place strained stock in stockpot
Add pasta.
Bring to boil and cook according to directions.
With 2 minutes left in pasta cooking time, add carrots and turkey.
Serve with crackers.


Turkey Stock
Ingredients
1 turkey carcass, wrapped in cheesecloth
2 cups carrots
2 onions, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 head garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon Oregano
1 bunch Celery, chopped
5 Bay leaves

Directions
Place cheesecloth wrapped turkey, carrots, onions, green onions, garlic, celery and seasonings into a large stockpot.
Fill stockpot with water, almost to the top, covering all contents.
Bring to boil then reduce to low simmer.
Simmer for 3-4 hours.
Remove stockpot from heat and let cool completely.
Once cooled, remove the cheesecloth covered turkey and place onto a cookie sheet.
Remove all the turkey meat from the bones and reserve for soup.
Discard the bones.
Strain stock into a large bowl.
Remove carrots and reserve for making soup.
Discard the rest of the vegetables and bay leaves.